Chapter 26: If Only I Had a Little More Time and Budget... (4)
Chapter 26: If Only I Had a Little More Time and Budget... (4)
Whirrrrr.
The Golden Drill churned through the earth, while the afterburner on the opposite side spewed flames, driving it deeper into the ground.
It’s been a while since I’ve used the drill.
I had attached transmitters and eavesdropping devices to my disciples, but I had no intention of running through this massive base on foot. I simply dug forward, following the signal.
“Are they still alive?”
The life signs were active, so they seemed to be holding on.
I checked the situation through the bug attached to The Hammer.
—Aaaaah! Si-hyun, what is that?!
—I don’t know either!
Amidst the voices of my foolish disciples, I heard the sound of something shattering.
They’re still moving around energetically, at least.
It sounded like they were being ambushed, but the fact that they were making that much noise meant they still had the strength to cause a ruckus. When things get truly dire, you can’t even squeeze out a word.
I had considered the worst-case scenario of them being captured, but they seemed vibrantly alive.
Drrrrrrrrrt.
Suddenly, sparks flew from The Hammer’s drill as it hit metal. It was grinding through, but the speed wasn't great.
Am I low on mana?
I funneled mana into The Hammer, and the drill’s speed surged. Bursting through the metal, I soared into the air and finally reunited with my disciples.
“Still alive?”
“Senior! Save us!”
“A-bin! Support! Support! Aaaaah!”
What a mess.
The scene looking down from the air was the definition of bizarre. Dozens of monsters had the Magical Girls cornered in the back of a corridor; Si-hyun was holding the frontline while A-bin attacked from the rear.
No. It wasn't that the monsters had cornered them—the two disciples had intended this.
From my vantage point in the air, most of the monsters were Large Entities. While I saw a few Medium Entities, there were almost no Small or Medium ones like the leopard I had encountered below.
They must have thrown themselves into the corridor to create a situation where they could fight one-on-one rather than being surrounded.
Since there didn't seem to be any immediate crisis, I slammed The Hammer’s handle into the ceiling and perched my backside on the hammerhead.
“Don’t just watch, help us!”
Han A-bin wailed, but she clearly had strength left, as the arrow she fired whistled through the air and embedded itself in a monster’s eye.
“It wouldn't be field training if I helped. I’ll save you if it gets dangerous, so keep trying.”
The monsters were mostly C-Rank, with a few B-Ranks mixed in.
If they worked hard enough, they should be able to take down at least half of them.
As I sat on the hammerhead, swinging my legs and enjoying the show...
“Master! Behind you!”
“I know.”
I caught the tentacle flying toward my back with my bare hand. I felt a disgusting, slimy liquid seeping out against my palm.
However, it was a familiar sensation. Without panicking, I wrenched the tentacle off and projected my killing intent toward the monster that had attacked.
“Behave yourself if you don’t want to be ejected to The Afterlife, you beast.”
Just be a good little training dummy for my disciples.
I only released a flicker of bloodlust, but the monsters felt it. They stopped fighting and looked up at the ceiling. They must have sensed an overwhelmingly powerful being radiating killing intent from above their heads.
Did that fear awaken some primal instinct? As the creatures that had been rampaging like mad just moments ago began to slink away...
“What are you doing? Keep going. Unless you want to die by my hand right now.”
I hammered a direct command into their instincts. I am a predator far above you, and I have more than enough power to dispose of you.
Since these were man-made monsters, they likely possessed the intelligence to understand and execute human speech. They would need that much to be controllable, after all.
“Grrrrrrr!”
“Awoooo!”
“Bark! Bark!”
The horde of monsters howled and charged at a much faster pace than before.
If they had been hunters stalking prey until now...
Now, they were soldiers prepared to die under the command of their alpha predator.
“Seniooooor!”
“It’s just gotten a bit more intense. Do your best.”
“Understood!”
A-bin’s face crumpled even further into a sob, but Baek Si-hyun swung her weapon as if she were having the time of her life.
Her movements had been a bit dull until a moment ago—what changed?
The fact that I’m watching? Or the fact that the battle grew fiercer?
I wasn't sure which it was, but something had set Baek Si-hyun’s combat instincts ablaze.
As if to prove me right, Baek Si-hyun scattered her weapons toward the enemies to block their approach and swung her hammer at any that got close.
That’s hopeless.
It looks flashy, but that’s it.
The flying weapons were bouncing off without piercing the monsters' weak points, and while she swung The Hammer for both offense and defense as I’d taught her, she constantly failed to find a solid point of impact, causing the strikes to slide off.
It was a haphazard attack, like children brawling.
And yet, the reason it functioned as combat was because Baek Si-hyun could see the future.
Let’s see... even now.
A monster’s claws flew toward Si-hyun’s blind spot, and she wasn't in a position to block it. Even though her eyes showed she clearly knew it was coming.
In a desperate bid to deal with the attack, Baek Si-hyun forced a massive swing with her right-hand weapon. Her right arm wrapped around her body, sending The Hammer behind her back.
Clang.
She managed to block the claws in front of her, but it created a problem for her next move. Another monster was attacking, but she didn't have time to untangle her arm and prepare for the next rotation.
She could swing immediately, but The Hammer would lack power.
A fatal mistake.
Combat requires reading several moves ahead, but because she relied solely on her Future Foresight without reading the next step, she ended up like that.
That’s not how you use Future Foresight. Fundamentally, you should read several moves ahead and use the vision to prune away unstable futures by decisively choosing the next one or two moves.
She was trying to cover her lack of experience with Future Foresight, which led to these issues.
Just as I was wondering if I should step in...
“It’s dangerous, Si-hyun!”
A pink flash cut across the battlefield.
An arrow, fired at the perfect moment, lodged into the monster’s joint, buying Baek Si-hyun a fraction of a second.
That tiny window was all she needed.
Baek Si-hyun untangled her limbs and quickly regained her stance.
Whoosh.
The Hammer swung with a crisp sound.
The way she swung was almost a perfect replica of my own form.
Stepping forward with her lead foot to find balance, she swung The Hammer with such force it looked like she didn't care if her elbow joint snapped.
An attack that maximized all the strength and rotational force in her body.
Crunch.
With a sound like fruit pulp bursting, the monster’s head vanished.
It wasn't quite at the level of my strikes—where heads exploded and flesh atomized—but it was a blow that clearly signaled a kill.
That attack wasn't bad.
“Nice job!”
“Let’s keep going!”
Only one monster had fallen, but both disciples' faces brightened.
Without even trying to show off who did better, the two disciples praised each other’s actions.
Their synergy is better than I thought.
Baek Si-hyun has plenty of power but keeps making mistakes due to lack of experience. Han A-bin has weak power but knows how to pour the right attacks into the right places.
What stood out most was Han A-bin’s growth.
She originally had plenty of talent—enough to predict and dodge my attacks. However, everything else was a problem.
Even if she aimed for a weak point, it was meaningless if she couldn't pierce The Enemy’s hide.
Even if she targeted a gap, the opponent’s reaction speed was faster.
When an opponent made dozens of moves, she struggled to make even one.
There were numerous problems that talent and effort alone couldn't overcome.
But now, her talent, which had been obscured by those basic issues, was beginning to bloom.
She could now pierce hides.
Her cognitive speed had increased slightly.
The gap in her actions had narrowed significantly.
With that, she dominated the battlefield.
‘Surprisingly, the gem might not just be Baek Si-hyun, but Han A-bin as well.’
Meteor came to mind.
The Soviet sniper who always provided the necessary support at the necessary time.
As a transformation Hero who only summoned a sniper rifle and a suit, he had to rely on his bullets for all special abilities. Yet, with his sheer combat sense, he was an Awakened who earned an A-Rank.
If I train her well, she might become similar.
No... maybe even better?
Healing ability, no matter how weak, is a great asset to have.
And since she creates her arrows with her own mana, she’ll be much more flexible, able to imbue them with various effects depending on her training.
As if painting that future right here, the speed at which the monsters fell increased.
Baek Si-hyun changed her combat style to use big techniques while trusting in Han A-bin, and Han A-bin shifted from chipping away at distant enemies to focusing entirely on assisting Si-hyun.
Finishing off monsters that were missed. Short flashes to distract The Enemy. Perfect positioning.
Even when assistance wasn't strictly necessary, she targeted the monsters' limbs, weakening their mobility.
Baek Si-hyun swept through the battlefield like a storm, but anyone who knew combat could easily see the truth.
The one generating that storm wasn't the person in the center holding The Hammer, but the girl holding the bow who looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.
And that storm only grew larger.
As their trust in each other deepened, their strategy began to shift.
They moved from the safe tactic of controlling the corridor and picking enemies off one by one to a forward deployment that allowed Baek Si-hyun to swing her hammer with full force.
It was clearly a dangerous move, but watching Baek Si-hyun made that thought vanish.
An absolute wall.
Unlike her partner, she possessed a talent for overwhelming physical ability. Her hammer became a wall, and the enemies, unable to breach it, were turned into scraps of meat.
“Si-hyun, don’t go too far forward...”
“I won’t let a single one get past me, so don’t worry! Just fire with peace of mind!”
As her words suggested, the forward deployment was something Si-hyun had done unilaterally, but the choice wasn't wrong.
Even if the fine details are a mess, her eye for the overall battlefield isn't bad.
My evaluation of Baek Si-hyun changed slightly as well. She wasn't just a Wild Boar charging on pure strength; she was a shock trooper who knew exactly where her limits lay.
She had a bit of a boar-like tendency, pushing into slightly dangerous positions, but even that was an act possible only because she trusted her comrade, Han A-bin.
“What a waste.”
It would be perfect if I could just take the two of them and split their traits down the middle.
Baek Si-hyun, the assault-type Hero with initiative and overwhelming physical talent.
Han A-bin, the fragile, safety-seeking theorist with no physical talent but overwhelming combat sense.
I wondered how much they would actually gain from their first real combat experience, but the results were better than expected.
I saw the talent and personalities of the two, and the grit that existed inside them despite their appearances.
A beast hiding intelligence, and a theorist clad in fragility.
I’ll have to scrap the curriculum I drew up. I made a mistake by only looking at the surface.
For Baek Si-hyun, I’ll focus on mind-control training, maximize sparring to build her lacking combat sense, and push her ability awakening to handle various situations.
For Han A-bin, I’ll build her decisiveness so she takes more risks and cram as much tactics and strategy into her head as possible.
Thinking this way, Han A-bin’s ability felt like a bit of a waste.
“If only she had a mental-type ability, she’d be perfect commander material.”
Those with mental abilities can relay commands and emotions in real-time.
The Lord of Infinite Castles briefly came to mind, but her direction was different from that geezer’s.
She was a talent suited for smaller scales—excellent for platoon or company-level command.
I might not know about strategic levels, but I can teach tactical-level manuals...
And while I’m at it, I can teach her theoretical countermeasures for the Otherworld.
While I was re-establishing the curriculum, the number of monsters gradually dwindled.
The horde that had numbered in the dozens was now down to a count I could manage on my fingers, and even those fell one by one to Baek Si-hyun’s hammer.
“The last one!”
Baek Si-hyun swung her hammer.
A massive wolf sprouting tentacles moved its legs to dodge the strike.
Thwip. Thwip.
Two arrows pierced its front legs.
Crunch.
Almost simultaneously, the sound of a skull shattering echoed, and the final monster collapsed to the floor.
“It’s over, Master!”
“I survived...”
As the tension bled out after the battle, one disciple waved at me hanging from the ceiling while the other slumped to the floor.
How clumsy.
I wrenched The Hammer out of the ceiling and swung it straight toward the ground.
“Huh?”
“Stay still.”
Baek Si-hyun tried to dodge The Hammer swinging toward her. I told her to stop and followed through with the swing.
Squelch.
The Hammer crushed the belly of a monster lying next to Baek Si-hyun.
“Yelp!”
The wolf monster, which had been faking death and waiting for an opening, let out a cry and ceased all movement.
“Among monsters, Mutants, and creatures, there are those whose weakness isn't the head.”
I gave the fallen wolf a light kick, showing them the mangled corpse.
The disciples surely saw what was inside The Hole in its belly.
A second skull that shouldn't have been there, and the pink brain matter leaking from the cracks.
“In this one’s case, it had multiple brains. Always check for life signs.”
“Yes!”
“Yes...”
They’re certainly good at answering.
After hearing my disciples' hollow replies, I took a long look around.
Monsters killed by arrows, monsters with shattered heads. Dozens of these B and C-Rank creatures.
Even if Baek Si-hyun was an A-Rank, that was A-Rank earned purely through talent. I hadn't expected her to be able to take down all these monsters.
This was a result achieved because both Baek Si-hyun and Han A-bin were faithful to their roles.
I wasn't sure if mediocre Heroes could succeed even if given the same power as them.
I suppose I should give them some praise.
I retracted The Hammer, patted my disciples on the back, and spoke.
“Well done. Honestly, I thought you wouldn't even get through half of them before crying for help.”
I’d have to give them some harsh feedback later when we analyze the battle, but for now, I’ll stick to praising them.
You did well, kids.